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HomePoliticsIn dramatic twist, Devendra Fadnavis sworn-in as next Maharashtra CM, Ajit Pawar...

In dramatic twist, Devendra Fadnavis sworn-in as next Maharashtra CM, Ajit Pawar his deputy

Rumours are strong in Maharashtra that Ajit Pawar's overnight decision to align with the BJP is likely linked to the ED cases against the Pawars

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Mumbai: The month-long political impasse in Maharashtra ended dramatically Saturday as BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as the chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Ajit Pawar as the deputy CM.

The developments come only a day after the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena finalised the name of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as the state’s next chief minister.

The President’s Rule was revoked in Maharashtra around 5.47 am Saturday, hours before Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister for a second term. The state was put under President’s Rule on 12 November after the assembly elections held last month delivered a fractured mandate.

In a tweet, however, NCP chief Sharad Pawar clarified that his nephew Ajit’s decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra government was the latter’s personal decision and not that of the party.

According to sources, around 30 NCP MLAs have extended support to Ajit.

Sources also said that senior NCP leaders Dhananjay Munde and Sunil Tatkare have supported Ajit.

Sena leader Sanjay Raut, in a press conference Saturday, said, “Ajit Pawar was in the meeting last evening. But he left early and we were told that he is in a meeting with his lawyer. During the meeting he did not look at anyone and his body language indicated that something was not right.”


Also read: Congress calls Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as CM for 2nd time betrayal of people’s mandate


New government

Only some leaders of the BJP were aware that the President’s Rule in Maharashtra was revoked, facilitating the way for the swearing-in of a new government, said sources.

There has also been talk in political circles that Ajit’s decision is probably linked to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe against the Pawars. The ED had in September registered a money laundering case against Sharad, Ajit Pawar, and several other politicians and officials in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam worth around Rs 25,000 crore.

In the meeting held Friday among NCP MLAs, several letters signed by them in support of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance were taken by Ajit. Sources said that these letters are still with him and are probably being used to indicate that he has the support of many MLAs.

Ajit needs the support of two-thirds of his MLAs to split the NCP. Of the 54 MLAs in the party, he needs the support of about 36.


Also read: Amit Shah confident BJP-NCP govt in Maharashtra will set new standards of progress


 

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7 COMMENTS

  1. OMG, Mr PC must be saddest person, he was expecting few NCP friends give him company,
    I am sure The ED will forget registered of money laundering in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam worth around Rs 25,000 crore.

  2. Amit Shah is going to give a speech, the text for which has been leaked out –

    “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall encash our electoral bonds, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.

    At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the foolish Maha voters sleeps, I woke up the President of India and my dearest friend Pawar. A moment comes, which comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the moral high grounds to the new low, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long duped, finds itself in utter disbelief.

    It is fitting that at this intriguing moment we take more pledges of dedication to the Biggest Junta Party of India and her members and to the still larger cause of politics.

    At the dawn we started on this unending thirst, and trackless decades are filled with struggles and at times grandioseness of our political success and other’s failures. Through good, bad and ill fortune alike, we have never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the aim which gave us strength. We end today a period of our ill fortune and BJP discovers herself again.

    The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. We are now brave enough and shrewd enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future….

    Let me stop here as I might have already exceeded the limit of readability of my post, though there is so much more to say. Now as you read the original speech of Nehru you will get the real messages.

    Ah and the speech is famously titled as the ‘Twisting of Destiny’.

  3. Just two good!! Both SS and the press got hit by a truck.
    Press comes out looking very silly and irrelevant — didn’t have a whiff of what was coming. Too busy doing useless analysis and commentary. As for SS….so juvenile!

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